Those parts aren't as fleshed-out and fun as they ought to be, and they don't always mesh together terrifically, either. Brutal Legend goes in several different directions at once, trying to be a third-person action adventure game, an exploration-based, open-world driving game, and an action-oriented real-time strategy game in pretty much equal parts. The gameplay, on the other hand, seems like a really odd fit for the subject matter. This is, far and away, Brutal Legend's biggest strength: its ability to be both giddily ridiculous and fist-pumpingly badass, often in the very same moment. And while heavy metal has a tendency to be pretty self-serious, Brutal Legend is anything but, taking all of the demonic imagery, S&M gear, hot-rod fetishism, closeted druidic fixations, and ultra-macho barbarian warriors, and blowing it out to its logical and absurd extreme. There's a reverence here, not necessarily for the reality of heavy metal, but for the gleaming, violent, sexy, and well, brutal power fantasy that a wicked Judas Priest album cover, and the contents within it, might inspire in a 13-year-old boy. The Guardian of Metal welcomes you! It's pretty clear within the first few minutes of Brutal Legend that the folks at Double Fine have a deep, profound love for heavy metal.

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